What was Hip Hop Like Back in the 80's and early 90's?

[son of 1973]

The Source and XXL and The Box cable show was how people around the country got to hear about music outside they region. I got put on to mad artists I would not have bought in the store if I aint see they video on the Box first (stuff like RBL Posse E 40 MC Breed). And Too Short def is the old school south biggest influence, i would visit the carolinas then and that was all you heard. Im glad you tube has eliminated the need to tape music off the radio, but that was the biggest thing to do, it was like getting money almost it was anticipated that much lol.

 

[Flyng]

i pretty much get this "Paid in Full" image in my head

that movie was really well done surprisingly and Camron can actually act, im guessing it was inspired by the rakim album? PiF?

Yea Paid in Full is a good rep but Harlem is a whole different animal from most. Harlem is the most famous black neighborhood in the world and was/is like a city within a city. The area is also huge. Harlem always been flashy. There's other parts of the city that don't really have subways so they are more off a car culture and homes are spread out(not like the south tho but closer to compton spread). The only area like that in Brooklyn that produced talent is East Flatbush(West indian area). Queens have parts like Jamaica, St Albans, Springfield Garden, etc. To get a good vibe of those areas(all close to each other) watch these.

[video=youtube;BqxRvPCJcGg&ob]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqxRvPCJcGg&ob[/video]

[video=youtube;m670Cx9savw&ob]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m670Cx9savw&ob[/video]

 

[king hassan]

Wish I had seen this thread earlier, a lot of great points made. I got into rap with RUN DMC first album and seen it evolve from there. It was definitely more experimental becuase things were being developed right on the spot. No sample clear laws. No rules on how to structure a song...you could rap for three minutes straight with no hooks if you wanted lol. You could sample noise, funk, jazz, country, breakbeats and it all became hip hop once you threw that boom bap on it. As many have siad KRS Kane Ra G Rap Slick Rick and LL are the blueprint for today's rhyming and they were all hiting back then. What people dont know is Ra and KRS elevated the game first from LL before Kane and G Rap really were heard about. 86-90 esp was crazy. In 4 years you had sampling being invented, refined and perfected, subject matter going from party music to hardcore, political, and battle themes, the south came into the game, the west came into the game, and it seemed like there was something new to be heard like everyday. With no internet you had to talk with your friends and listen to every mix show, listen to cars, listen to music coming out of people houses (thats how i first heard PE lol) to know what to run out and buy next. 1988 was great becuase its the onyl year I remember all types of rap coexisted equally together. pimp (Too Short) gangsta (NWA) south (Geto Boys/2 LIve Crew) hardcore (BDP/EPMD/Kane) political (PE) playful/alternative (De La/Tribe), pop (Rob Base/Kid and Play), 5% (Rakim), I dont know if it was becuase the fanbase was samller but if you was a rap head then you ate it all up. In Philly we were listening to all that, even MC Hammer in 88.

Man, I was waiting on you to step off in here *dapz*. Yeah man, all that shit existed together, and you'd hear it all at one time!

 

[king hassan]

It's funny how now you have underground and mainstream when it was all underground at one time. Hip Hop was selling with no radio play or video play. Now cats have video singles before a song is even heard.

 

[son of 1973]

i pretty much get this "Paid in Full" image in my head

that movie was really well done surprisingly and Camron can actually act, im guessing it was inspired by the rakim album? PiF?

Well the Rakim album was released at a time when that what was going on in the streets in NY so it makes sense. Thats why Ra and Eric were geared up like they were, it was a getting money era. crack money was still new and everywhere, almost everybody was getting it, had friends who were, or were trying to get it themselves and dress the part too lol.

 

[young_reezy]

the most ironic part about hip hop in the 80's is....

the 80's was possibly the biggest drug era in America....

yet you have today's emcee's spitting like today's day and age is the biggest drug era currently.

back in the 80's when the shit was really real, you didn't hear it being promoted through the music like it is today, even at a time when it was major in our communities.

 

[son of 1973]

It's funny how now you have underground and mainstream when it was all underground at one time. Hip Hop was selling with no radio play or video play. Now cats have video singles before a song is even heard.

*dapz* my brother. youre right, remember when the only mainstream artists were ll run dmc whodini fat boys beastie boys kool moe dee Tone Loc lol. everybody else was like underground. even ra krs kane slick rick werent pop big, but going gold back then was like going platinum becuase the fanbase was so much smaller. but the real real underground back then was like Just Ice and Ultramagnetic MCs, the cult favorite type groups/artists. we as fans were more dedicated though, that hip hop as a lifestyle krs talks about is some real 80's vibe. we slept and ate it was dedicated to it like a religion almost. thats why artist could sell without radio/video becuase the fans were much more supportive.

 

[c.b.b.]

I was born in '84 and my mother and older brother tell me I was rapping Run DMC lyrics when I was 3 or 4 years old.

I like rap back then in the late 80's/early 90's b/c there was a message and hiphop was more against the grain.

There was always party/commercial records, but it was done with more credibility and not like the mindless/watered down material that's out now

 

[king hassan]

*dapz* my brother. youre right, remember when the only mainstream artists were ll run dmc whodini fat boys beastie boys kool moe dee Tone Loc lol. everybody else was like underground. even ra krs kane slick rick werent pop big, but going gold back then was like going platinum becuase the fanbase was so much smaller. but the real real underground back then was like Just Ice and Ultramagnetic MCs, the cult favorite type groups/artists. we as fans were more dedicated though, that hip hop as a lifestyle krs talks about is some real 80's vibe. we slept and ate it was dedicated to it like a religion almost. thats why artist could sell without radio/video becuase the fans were much more supportive.

.
I remember when "Fear of a Black Planet" dropped, the whole hood copped that shit. Cats think that shit back then did'nt knock in the trunk, yes it did. But that album had the hood on buzz!

And I remember seeing that "Traveling At the Speed of Thought" but Ultra on the box, that shit was wierd and dope at the same time lol

 

[son of 1973]

.[/B]

I remember when "Fear of a Black Planet" dropped, the whole hood copped that shit. Cats think that shit back then did'nt knock in the trunk, yes it did. But that album had the hood on buzz!

And I remember seeing that "Traveling At the Speed of Thought" but Ultra on the box, that shit was wierd and dope at the same time lol

When I try to explain to my kids friends that for like 4 years the hardest dudes in the hood were wearing beads, africa medallions, malcom x shirts and hats and talking about black power on the corner, thy almost dont believe me lol. PE was so big i think you had to be there to know. the music was knockin and the message was militant. brand nubian, x clan, prt, that whole movement was the truth.

 

[young_reezy]

When I try to explain to my kids friends that for like 4 years the hardest dudes in the hood were wearing beads, africa medallions, malcom x shirts and hats and talking about black power on the corner, thy almost dont believe me lol. PE was so big i think you had to be there to know. the music was knockin and the message was militant. brand nubian, x clan, prt, that whole movement was the truth.

I can honestly remember older dudes from my neighborhood who are dead now, who used to wear african medallions with beads and everything... then the next minute they'd be trying to put me up on the bloods gang signs and handshakes and shit lol.

 

[c.b.b.]

Man I miss the days when acts like PE, Ice Cube, and Geto Boys were at the top of the rap game

 

[Mumo X]

Appreciates King Hassan and Son 73 for providin Insight and droppin knowledge in this thread.

 

[nyst8ofmin]

nostalgia is a bitch....

when nas did 'i gave u power', even tho he wasnt the first to do that type of song, it was innovative.

the music was more about the music and the art back then as opposed to now the whole image sells.

imagine life with no internet. there was nothing like youtube back then. it wasnt as easy to have a well balanced hip hop diet, unlike today.

ive seens some great concerts tho...

fugees and tribe called quest and busta rhymes on stage together during their prime

the whole D.I.T.C more than a couple times at some real small/intimate type venues.

the hard knock life tour (rocafella/ruff ryders)

 

[son of 1973]

I can honestly remember older dudes from my neighborhood who are dead now, who used to wear african medallions with beads and everything... then the next minute they'd be trying to put me up on the bloods gang signs and handshakes and shit lol.

LOL real talk family. They didnt stop what they were doing, but they was up on a lot of edcuation/knowledge. The 5% in NY were the same way, they'd school you on knowledge of self then rob somebody or drink forties lol. thats the 80s in a nutshell, we remebered the old ways (militant, black pride) and were down wiht it but were too influenced by the crack era to completely change like say muslims/black panthers.

 

[king hassan]

When I try to explain to my kids friends that for like 4 years the hardest dudes in the hood were wearing beads, africa medallions, malcom x shirts and hats and talking about black power on the corner, thy almost dont believe me lol. PE was so big i think you had to be there to know. the music was knockin and the message was militant. brand nubian, x clan, prt, that whole movement was the truth.

I can honestly remember older dudes from my neighborhood who are dead now, who used to wear african medallions with beads and everything... then the next minute they'd be trying to put me up on the bloods gang signs and handshakes and shit lol.

LOL yeah man, niggas was rocking that shit and gang banging. I used to have countless pics of cats throwing up the 5 and Stone Love with beads and medallions on.

 

[Cabana_Da_Don]

is it me. How the fuck we had less technology back then but made better music?

nah niggas had the same sounds.the same synths that were used in 80´s pop songs are used today.the songs were better because they were hip hop and not watered down.check to live and die in l.a.compare that shit to new york.nah mean.niggas were artists back in the day you couldnt fuck up in the studio or you were shitted on.they were real people real artist.

 

[Flyng]

Man I miss the days when acts like PE, Ice Cube, and Geto Boys were at the top of the rap game

The game have to be taken out of old rich men hands for that to happen. The only way that would happen if the public did a 180 which we know isn't going to happen. Early Kanye could have been that for a newer age.

nah niggas had the same sounds.the same synths that were used in 80´s pop songs are used today.the songs were better because they were hip hop and not watered down.check to live and die in l.a.compare that shit to new york.nah mean.niggas were artists back in the day you couldnt fuck up in the studio or you were shitted on.they were real people real artist.

The beat machines and recording equipment is better now. Probably too much because almost all grit is gone.

 

[young_reezy]

The game have to be taken out of old rich men hands for that to happen. The only way that would happen if the public did a 180 which we know isn't going to happen. Early Kanye could have been that for a newer age.

The beat machines and recording equipment is better now. Probably too much because almost all grit is gone.

this is so true, the sound is more melodic and more synthed out now which is good listening but that raw sound is missing... also the funk is missing from today's hip hop (i'm not one of those cats who says everything was better back in the days) I think it's just due to different sampling tastes right now, mostly every funk record has been sampled but not just sampling just the beats overall are lacking that funky sound, I can't explain exactly what I mean when I say "that funky sound" but some of yall might know what I mean.

 

[king hassan]

this is so true, the sound is more melodic and more synthed out now which is good listening but that raw sound is missing... also the funk is missing from today's hip hop (i'm not one of those cats who says everything was better back in the days) I think it's just due to different sampling tastes right now, mostly every funk record has been sampled but not just sampling just the beats overall are lacking that funky sound, I can't explain exactly what I mean when I say "that funky sound" but some of yall might know what I mean.

Soul music sampling is what I think you mean. James Brown, Parliment, Isley Brothers, Isaac Hayes, they all got sample but the thing is cats used different parts of songs to sample, producers are sooooooooo lazy nowadays its fucking pathetic. All they do is run shit through a machine that's why it sounds so clear, cats were sampling instruments, the drums, the horns, the guitar, the bass back in the day. And they were experimenting with different forms of music to sample too. Believe me it's more shit out here to sample that what's been sampled. I dj'd @ WHPK here in Chicago for 10 years and you should see the record vault up in there. I know all that shit in there has'nt been touched by a producer but cats dont like getting out there and dig anymore. Some dude made a thread in the beat forum about him sampling off "Youtube" what the fuck, that's lazy man, pure lazy!